Round and Flat

[Paul Mackin]

On Nov 4, 2006, at 9:34 AM, Jasper Fidget wrote:

> Just to add to the flat / round discussion, here are some quotes from
> E.M. Forster's _Aspects of the Novel_, in which I believe --  
> correct me
> if I'm wrong -- the terms were invented:
>
> "Flat characters were called 'humorous' in the seventeenth century,  
> and
> are sometimes called types, and sometimes caricatures.  In their  
> purest
> form, they are constructed round a single idea or quality: when  
> there is
> more than one factor in them, we get the beginning of the curve  
> towards
> the round.  The really flat character can be expressed in one sentence
> such as 'I never will desert Mr. Micawber.'  There is Mrs. Micawber --
> she says she won't desert Mr. Micawber, she doesn't, and there she
> is." (66)
>
> "Or take Proust.  There are numerous flat characters in Proust,  
> such as
> the Princess of Parma, or Legrandin.  Each can be expressed in a  
> single
> sentence, the Princess's being, 'I must be particularly careful to be
> kind.'  She does nothing except to be particularly careful, and  
> those of
> the other characters who are more complex than herself easily see
> through the kindness, since it is only a by-product of the
> carefulness." (66)


Does Forester discuss the "round" characters in Proust?

The fact that the narrator is forever discovering that people he  
thinks he knows are really not that way at all.

Are both one way and at the same time some seemingly opposite way..

This makes the novel quite interesting, if a bit implausible at time.

Question for discussion: Describe instances of character surprises in  
Pynchon>